[nabs-l] More Questions Regarding Qualified Readers

[Carly Mihalakis]

Evening, Elizabeth,

         Like your's, my own relationship with the braille dot is a 
little bit of a troubled one. After being convinced of the 
nonnegotiable Merrit of using braille for my entire childhood, at age 
19, I became brain damaged, a result of said brain damage being a 
crippling case of tactual appraxia (inability for hand and brain to 
communicate details), a show stopper if you hope to see braille 
characters with some degree of accuracy. However, my problems are 
hardware-based,I  maintain mental knowledge of the code and can write 
on a slate or braille writer, if pressed. Not that the product will 
be anything to write home about..
But no, knowledge of the braille code does not indicate an excellent 
literacy, or any other flavor of superior blind whatever. I don't 
blame you for just getting a reader to communicate complex math 
expressions. Why ought a formerly sighted person be a slave to 
whether or not she is a Nemeth mistress, determine how well she does 
in a math class, anyway? So braille is not, the be all, end all 
especially when extenuating circumstances play such a role in shaping 
the outcome of the matter?
Keep us posted, Lizzy!
Car/7/2017, Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>Please forgive the multiple posts. However, after sending my 
>previous email, I was wondering if there might be any kind of 
>standers or guidelines for reading materials for math or science 
>classes. If there are any credible sources for standards or 
>guidelines for reading materials for math or science classes, 
>perhaps this might help me establish a good definition of a 
>qualified reader for my math classes.
>
>I understand some of you may believe that Braille is the only way to 
>go in terms of being able to access materials for math classes. 
>However, as I have already indicated, I do not know Braille well 
>enough to use for my math classes. And as someone who grew up 
>sighted, most of the time it is just easier for someone to read me a 
>simple graphic or chart than it is for me to figure out how to read 
>this information in Braille.
>
>The types of graphics and charts that were included in the math 
>class that I tried to take this semester included such things as 
>number lines and a chart that was like an excel spreadsheet listing 
>names of cities down one Colum and temperatures going down another 
>Colum. I am not quite sure what might be included in the other math 
>classes that I need to take to meet the university math requirement 
>for the university I would like to be able to transfer to after 
>completing my associates degree.
>
>I am not looking to complete advance math classes here. I am simply 
>trying to take what is required to meet the transfer requirements. 
>However, I am not quite sure how to go about fulfilling my math 
>requirement when the disabilities office at the community college 
>that I attend does not appear to work with me so I can gain equal 
>access to the course required for my math classes.
>
>I do not know how else to gain access to the course materials 
>required for my math classes, and so far the college does not agree 
>with me on what constitutes as a qualified reader. So again, any 
>assistance anyone could provide in helping me find a credible source 
>for a good clear definition of qualified reader would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Elizabeth
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